Head out to Erie region's 14th Maple Taste & Tour Weekend

Don't be a sap. Take a tour and try free samples at 15 regional sugar shacks on Saturday and Sunday.

By Lindsey Poisson / lindsey.poisson@timesnews.com

There's more on tap this weekend than just St. Patrick's Day fun.

Fifteen regional sugar shacks are getting ready to welcome visitors during the 14th annual Maple Taste & Tour Weekend, which promises to be informative as well as tasty. Several locations will offer tours of their facilities and talk about sap collecting, boiling, filtering and syrup grading.

"We all explain the process of making maple syrup," said Bill Phillips, president of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Maple Association and owner of Fort LeBoeuf Maple. Not to mention each location will have a variety of free samples — including maple candies, cookies, dips and maybe even a short stack of pancakes slathered in syrup — as well as maple products for sale to help visitors "experience the flavors of maple," he added.